Only one of two steel dams still exist in the United States, and one is less than a mile off an old alignment of Route 66 east of Ash Fork, Arizona.
Known as the Bainbridge Steel Dam or the Ashfork-Bainbridge Steel Dam, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway built the dam’s parts offsite and shipped them to the place in 1898 to give a water supply for steam locomotives and the town of Ash Fork.
The dam is named after Francis. H. Bainbridge, an engineer who worked for the railroad at the time. It’s no longer used for that purpose, but the dam still is in good condition and now provides water for animals and recreation.
I’ve traveled Route 66 for more than 15 years, and this is the first time I’ve heard of the dam.
The Williams News published a recent article about the dam:
The town of Ash Fork was a watering place for the AT&SF railway’s east-west line and a terminus for the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix railway. The natural water supply was insufficient for these demands and the company added the Ash Fork Steel Dam to the series of reservoirs it was creating in Arizona. Until the dam was built, the railroad was forced to haul water from Williams, a distance of 23 miles or even from Bellemont, 45 miles away. Since the need was for 90,000 gallons a day, the advantages of a nearby reservoir was obvious. […]
The dam is 46 feet high and 184 feet long and creates a reservoir with a capacity of 36 million gallons. The dam has no spillway, since it was designed to allow a 6-foot overflow to pour over its crest. It consists of 24 curved 3/8 inch steel plates, with alternate loose and ridged panels to compensate for a temperature range from 104 degrees to minus four degrees, that give the dam a scalloped look. There is an apron along the downstream edge of the crest to allow overflow water to clear the dam. A pipe ran from the bottom of the dam for several miles down the canyon to the Santa Fe station in Ash Fork. A soft, open hearth steel was used, except for the rivets which are exposed to water and are wrought iron. The weight of the steel in the dam is estimated at 400,000 lbs.
More than 50 years after it was built, an engineer said the dam was “in as good condition as if it was just built.”
The Stone Dam, which also remains in use, was built in 1902 upstream from the steel dam. A recently built trail connects the two.
The Bainbridge Steel Dam was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It’s also an Arizona Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. The Kaibab National Forest owns the dam.
The dam sits less than mile northwest of a 1932-1952 alignment of old Route 66. The Williams News provided these handy directions, if you want to see it:
The quickest route to the dams is to take I-40 to the Welch Road exit. Head north a few hundred feet and turn right onto Forest Road 6 for .5 miles. Where Forest Road 6 ends, turn left on Old Route 66 and continue for two miles. After the cattle guard turn right at the next road. This road may require four-wheel drive and winds down approximately .5 miles to Stone Dam and the trailhead for Steel Dam.
(1922 image of the Bainbridge Steel Dam by Kaibab National Forest via Flicker; 2006 image of the dam by Alan Hamilton via Wikimedia Commons)
Interesting! Here’s a link to a Google Maps view of the dam: https://goo.gl/maps/u7JEXjGTQWP2